Swiss Patent No. 482 439 discloses a surgical microscope support that consists of a coupled-hinge parallelogram frame which is adjustable on three coordinate axes, in combination with a pivoting device that can be pivoted about two axes of rotation.
However, this prior art support frame is bulky in its dimensions, and it is too unwieldy for those uses where the optical observation unit needs to be adjusted only as to height and in translation along the pivoting device's two coordinate axes. Furthermore, the limited pivotability of surgical microscopes held by this prior art device (i.e., about only two axes of rotation) does not meet all the surgeon's requirements, e.g., in the case of difficult brain surgery.
The invention herein is a pivoting device which is itself pivotable about three axes of rotation and which can be combined with known frame structures that can be adjusted on three coordinate axes to provide a support for optical observation equipment suitable for many applications.